Monday, May 25, 2009

Preview- 3D renderings of Montrose Green

We recently generated several 3D renderings of Montrose Green in order to help better illustrate how the house is put together and generally how it works. We are pretty excited about how they're coming along. We still need to add some notes to the drawings to help explain them, but we figured we would go ahead and post the progress images.

The rendering on the right shows the extent of the original rowhome (below) and how it relates to the new addition (floating above). You can see that we have added a significant amount of square footage to the house...we basically doubled its size. This rendering also shows the 4' wide alley, or easement, next to the house that we paved with reclaimed brick from the old facade as well as the extent of the stormwater planter out front (in green).

The rendering on the top left indicates the new elements that make up the building skin (i.e. the green roof, the third floor metal mansard roof, the fiber-cement panels at the third floor and rear addition, and the sun shades at the south facade.) In the rendering, these elements are pulled away from the house in order to show their location relative to the overall design.

The rendering at the bottom left is a building section cut through the center of the house. The ultimate intention for this drawing is to show how all the 'systems' in the house work (i.e. passive and active ventilation, daylighting, HVAC, water management, etc.

Many thanks to our friend and coworker, Justin, for taking the time to create these images.

This blog documents the renovation of our personal residence, a 100-yr. old rowhouse in Philadelphia. We learned so much along the way that we wanted to share our experience and research with others.

We'd love to hear from you. Contact us at info[at]solibs.com or visit our company website: solibs.com.

Photos of the house

Project Specs

The original two-story house was 900 SF without a functional kitchen, plumbing that barely worked, and significant roof damage. It was essentially a liveable shell, but it had solid bones and plenty of potential.

We gutted the entire house while salvaging & recycling as much as possible along the way. By adding a third floor and extending the house at the rear, we'll ultimately have 1,850 SF with 3 BR/2.5 BA/Study, as well as a full unfinished basement for storage.

The project is currently registered with the USGBC and is pursuing LEED for Homes Platinum certification.To see Floor Plansand Elevations of the project, see the Wednesday, May 7th blog post.

We have successfully installed a stormwater planter in front of Montrose Green. And what exactly is a "stormwater planter", you as...

Bench Dog Design

Bench Dog Design is the creative team behind the design & fabrication of several key features of Montrose Green including the stair treads, bartop, vanity cabinet, wall surfacing, outdoor bench, and roof access ladder. All of these elements were made from locally salvaged wood and fabricated in Bench Dog's own Philadelphia workshop.

Open House Party - 7/11

A big thank you to the nearly 300 people who joined us on 7/11 to tour the house! For those who missed the big event, check out the upcoming Open House schedule above. Click the image above to see a slideshow of photos from the party!